Commission Split & Cap Calculator
Take one closed transaction and reproduce the arithmetic of your own brokerage agreement, line by line: the gross commission, the co-brokerage side split, a referral fee taken off the top before the broker split, the broker/agent split (percentage or a 100% model with a flat transaction fee), your annual cap — including a deal that crosses the cap part-way through, where the split changes mid-transaction — then the franchise or royalty fee, E&O, admin and any other deduction, and finally the net to you. Nothing is built in: every rate, cap, fee and split is a number you copy off your own agreement, because these vary by brokerage, by agent, by market and by year. This is arithmetic on what you enter. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not know any brokerage's actual terms.
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Worked example
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Inputs
- Sale price $
400000 - Total commission rate % (0 = use the flat fee)
0 - Flat commission $ (used when the rate is 0)
12000 - Your side's share of the gross % (co-brokerage)
50 - Referral fee % of your side's gross
0 - Broker split model
Percentage split / 100% + flat transaction fee - Agent's share % (percentage-split model)
70 - Flat transaction fee $ (100% model)
0 - Annual cap $ (0 = no cap)
0 - Already paid toward the cap $
0 - What counts toward the cap
Broker split only / Broker split + fees - Franchise / royalty fee % of your side's gross
0 - Franchise fee cap $ for this deal (0 = none)
0 - E&O insurance $
0 - Transaction / admin fee $
0 - Other flat deduction $
0
Frequently asked
In what order are the fees applied?
Gross commission, then your side's share of it, then the referral fee off the top, then the broker/agent split, then the cap limit, then the flat deductions. The referral comes out before the split on purpose: a referral is owed on the commission itself, not on your share of it, so taking it first shrinks the base that both you and the brokerage split. Applying it after the split instead — deducting it only from your share — produces a materially different, and usually much worse, number for you. The order actually used is printed with every result.
What happens when a transaction crosses my cap?
The split changes part-way through the deal. The brokerage's share of this transaction is charged only up to whatever is left of your cap; everything above that is credited back to you and shows as its own line. So a deal that starts on a 70/30 split can finish at 100%, and the statement shows both the amount that went to the cap and the amount handed back.
Are any rates, caps or fees built in?
No — not one. Every rate, cap, fee and split percentage in this tool is a field you fill in from your own agreement. The figures the page starts with are arbitrary placeholders chosen to demonstrate the arithmetic; they are not typical, recommended or benchmark values, and every optional fee, cap and referral starts at zero for exactly that reason. Commission is negotiable and the terms differ from one brokerage and one year to the next.
Why do the printed lines always add up?
Because every percentage line is rounded exactly once — half away from zero, at the cent — and the other side of that percentage is then derived by subtraction rather than rounded a second time. Rounding both halves independently is what makes a naive statement come out a cent short. All money here is whole cents in integer arithmetic; no decimal ever floats.
What counts toward the cap?
You choose. By default only the brokerage's split — the company dollar — is counted, since that is the part you are paying the brokerage for the split itself. If your agreement also runs franchise, E&O or transaction fees against the cap, switch the option and they are counted too. Brokerages genuinely differ here, so the tool asks instead of assuming.
Is this tax, legal or accounting advice?
No. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. It does not know your brokerage's agreement, your tax position or your state's rules, and no figure it prints should be filed, relied on in a dispute, or treated as a substitute for your broker or your accountant.